There has long been interest in developing thermoplastic resins that can resist burning. A specific area of concern is in developing plastics for transportation applications, such as rail cars and airplanes. Various evaluation techniques have been developed to test the effectiveness of such thermoplastic materials, for instance Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 25.853. In this test, sometimes referred to as the Ohio State University (OSU) rating, the amount of energy released after 2 minutes and the peak heat release energy are measured. Lower heat release values are desirable. Polymer blends that have been used in these applications are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,483. These compositions combine polyetherimides (PEI) with a siloxane polyetherimide and a polycarbonate (PC). The existing PEI-PC blends are opaque and due to the high Tg of the PEI more difficult to mold, shape and form into articles than the lower Tg resorcinol-based polyarylate and polyester carbonate blends described herein. Most other lower Tg polyester or polycarbonate blends, while having better processability than the higher heat PEI blends, do not have the flame resistance necessary to meet the FAR requirements. In addition the development of transparent flame resistant compositions would further expand the utility of these types of materials. Therefore, despite the effectiveness of existing FAR compliant flame retardant compositions, there still exists a need for even better performance in this area.